Japanese Grand Prix: Verstappen wins race and title

Mostly cloudy. To rain. Air +19…17С, track +21С

Formula 1 has returned to Japan after a three-year hiatus. Despite the cool and rainy weather, the stands were completely full. Japanese fans missed the national Grand Prix. The stage was the eighteenth on the calendar – and the second, where the fate of the championship title could be decided ahead of schedule. To do this, it was enough for Max Verstappen to be ahead of Charles Leclerc by eight points and Sergio Perez by six.

In October, rains in Suzuka are very common, and this time the weather has become one of the factors of the weekend. On Friday George Russell was fastest on a wet track, on Saturday it was dry and Max Verstappen took fifth pole of the season in qualifying.

It started to rain an hour before the start.

Verstappen and Leclerc started the race from the front row of the grid, Sainz and Perez – from the second, Ocon and Hamilton – from the third. Pierre Gasly started from the pit lane – in a closed park he changed the configuration of the rear wing and the front suspension, which is prohibited by the rules.

Before the start, the rain increased, but race officials decided to start from the spot. Everything started on intermediate tires.

At the start, Verstappen slipped and Leclerc attacked, but Max kept the lead. Stroll rose to 13th place. After contact with Alonso, Vettel flew into the gravel and was the last.

Sainz crashed the car after taking off into Turn 12 – and carried an advertising banner on the track, which damaged Gasly’s car. Albon retired after making contact with Magnussen due to a blown radiator. The safety car drove away. After a few minutes, the race was stopped by red flags.

Gasly was changing tires and was overtaking the pack when he saw a tractor at the last minute in Turn 12 evacuating Sainz’s car and the Marshal standing next to him. Pierre was driving dangerously close to them at about 250 km/h, two seconds after the race had ended. ‘What’s that tractor on the track? I drove by. This is unacceptable. Remember what happened. I can’t believe it,” Gasly told the engineer.

Following the incident, the FIA ​​issued a brief statement: “As for the incident on lap three, it happened after the safety car had departed and the race was neutralized. Conditions deteriorated and the red flag was shown before the driver of car #10 passed the scene of the accident that damaged his car on the final lap.

Top ten at the time of the race break: Verstappen – Leclerc – Perez – Ocon – Hamilton – Alonso – Russell – Ricciardo – Tsunoda – Schumacher.

It was raining in full force, puddles appeared on the track. The riders returned to the pit lane and exited the cars. The damaged front wing has been replaced on Gasly’s car.

The restart was delayed several times. An ambulance drove out to assess the condition of the track, but the situation gradually deteriorated – the rain was not heavy, but the puddles were getting bigger by the minute.

At 16:15 local time (2 hours and 15 minutes after the first start), a restart was announced behind the heavy rain tire safety car to be able to drive at least some distance. The rain continued. Wet and cold spectators greeted the riders with applause.

After two laps the safety car left the track and on lap 5 the riders were able to fight.

Verstappen kept the lead. Latifi and Vettel went into the pits for intermediate tyres.

On lap 7 Norris and Bottas switched to intermediate tires, on lap 8 everyone except Alonso, Ricciardo, Schumacher and Zhou, on lap 9 Alonso and Ricciardo.

The race was led by Mick Schumacher, who stayed on wet tyres, but Verstappen immediately overtook him, regained his lead in the race and then Mick gradually rolled back.

On lap 10 Zhou switched tires, on lap 12 Schumacher.

Top ten in round 12: Verstappen – Leclerc – Perez – Ocon – Hamilton – Vettel – Alonso – Latifi, Norris and Tsunoda.

Russell was ahead of Tsunoda on lap 15 and Norris on lap 16 to move up to 9th.

Zhou switched tires on lap 19, Stroll on lap 20 and Tsunoda on lap 21.

On lap 21, Russell Latifi was ahead in eighth.

Hamilton put Ocon under pressure for a long time and tried different routes, but the difference in speed was not enough to overtake.

On lap 23 Alonso made a pit stop, on lap 24 he overtook Norris and Latifi and climbed to eighth place.

On lap 25, Zhou caught up with Gasly for 16th.

On 26th, Tsunoda placed Magnussen in for 13th.

Perez closed the gap on Leclerc, but the difference in speed was not enough to overtake.

On lap 28, Alonso overtook Russell for seventh.

In the last corner Leclerc made a mistake, he went off the track, but came back in second, held his position and was given an unfair advantage – and a five-second penalty.

The race ended after the two-hour limit. The riders rode 29 out of 53 laps, but the FIA ​​decided to award full points, explaining that incomplete points are awarded only in the event of a race interruption that cannot be resumed, and in Japan, the riders the finish flag – this change was made in the regulations after Belgium’21.

Max Verstappen won the Japanese Grand Prix, scoring his 12th win of the season, his 32nd in his career and winning his second championship ahead of schedule. Sergio Perez climbed to the second step of the podium, Charles Leclerc – to the third.

Alpine achieved their best result of the season with 18 points and reclaimed fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship for McLaren.

Nicholas Latifi finished ninth, earning points for the first time of the season.

In two weeks, the battle continues in Austin.

Race results

* Leclerc was given a five second penalty for going out of bounds and not returning the advantage
** Gasly has been ticketed for speeding under red flags

best lap: Guanyu Zhou (Alfa Romeo) – 1:44.411 (20 lap, 200,220 km/h)

Reasons for leaving

Championship position : Individual

Championship position : Constructors’ Championship

Team		Engine	Glasses
=	1 Red Bull Racing	Red Bull powertrains	619
=	2 Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari	454
=	3. Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team	Mercedes	387
	4 Alpine F1 Team	Renault	143
	5 McLaren Racing	Mercedes	130
=	6. Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN	Ferrari	52
=	7. Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team	Mercedes	45
=	8 Haas F1 Team	Ferrari	34
=	9 Scuderia Alpha Tauri	Red Bull powertrains	34
=	10 Williams Racing	Mercedes	eight